Gate-operator.



C. E. GROENDYKE.

GATE OPERATOR.

APPLICATION FILED act. 24. I916.

Patented June 26, 1917.

2 SHEETS-"SHEET (I. E. GROENDYKE.

GATE OPERATOR- APPLICATION men OCT. 24. 1916.

Patented June 26, 1917.

2 SHEE T$SHEET 2- burr sin CORNELIUS E. GROENDYKE, OF SHELDON, IOWA.

GATE-OPERATOR.

Application filed October 24, 1916.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, CORNELIUS E. GRoEN- DYKE, a citizen of the United States, residing at Sheldon, in the county of OBrien, State of Iowa, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Gate-Operators; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

This invention relates to gate opening and closing devices. 7 The invention has for its object to provide a simple and effective mechanism for opening and closing farm gates which is operative by parties approaching the gate from either side without the necessity of dismounting from the horse or vehicle. The invention contemplates, in connection with the above, to provide a mechanism which is not only simple in construction, but which is easy to operate and does not depend for its proper openings upon a single actuating impulse, but is opened by a series of im pulses or pulls upon an actuated handle so that it is not necessary, in order to open the gate, for the operator to put all of his energy into the one pull. The gate operating 'devices of the last mentioned class are often inoperative to women or children who are not strong enough to open the gate at the first effort. My invention, on the other hand provides a mechanism in which the gate opening operation consists in the applica tion of a plurality of short easily applied pulls to a handle whose cumulative efiect is to open the gate and a continuation of which results in the subsequent closing of the gate.

WVith the above objects in view, and such other objects as will hereinafter appear, my invention will now be fully set forth and described, reference being had to the accompanying drawings.

In the drawings Figure 1 is a side View of the gate operating mechanism, a

Fig. 2 is a front elevation partly in section,

Fig. 3 is a plan view,

Fig. 4; is a detail of the operating mechanism,

Fig. 5 is a section on line 5- 5 of Fig. 4.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented June 26, 191?.

Serial No. 127,420.

Fig. 6 is a view of a blank used in the construction of a part of the device, and

Fig. 7 is a detail cross section of the operative frame.

Referring more particularly to the drawings, 1 is a gate which is hinged to a. post 2 at one side of the road way. The post 2 is the companion of a post 3 which is alined along the road side with the post 2, and with the latter carries the gate actuating mechanism. Spanning the posts 2 and 3 at a height substantially coincident with the height of the gate 1, is a longitudinal beam 4. Resting upon the beam a, and slidable t-herearound between the guide pins 5 is a frame 6 which consists of an elongated loop whose inner edges cooperate with a bar or filler 7 to provide a continuous cam slot 8. The filler 7 is held in position within the frame 6 by means of the bow shaped braces 9, so that the relationship between the filler 7 and the frame 6 is rigidly preserved.

The cam slot 8 is interrupted at regular intervals by means of the pawls or dogs 10 which are provided with journals 11 which seat in bearings formed in the edges of the filler 7 and extend across the cam slot and rest against the inner edge of the frame 6. The pawls 10 are shaped from blanks of the type shown in Fig. 6 and surrounding the pintles in the journals 11 are the coil springs 12, one of whose ends bear against the inner wall of the p wl, the other of whose ends bear against the inner face of the filler 7 to hold the pawls normally extended across the cam slot 8.

Upon one side, the pawls or dogs 10 extend in the same direction above the cam slot 8, so that an element passing through the slot must maintain the continuous travel in one direction, since the pawl will always close behind the moving element and prevent its return. The forward end of the frame 6 is provided with a bearing 13 which rotatably engages a pin 14 mounted upon the upper edge of the gate 1 at a point to the rear of the middle point of the width of the gate, the frame 6 being substantially one-half of the length of the gate. The rear end of the frame 6 is continued the full width of the frame, and as above stated slides over the upper edge of the beam l between the pins 5, and upon the rear side of the beam 4 rides over a roller 15 which is -journaled in a frame 16 in position to space the frame above the beam 4. Pivotally mounted upon the stud 17 is a bell crank lever 18 one end of which is connected to a link 19 which extends forwardly to underlie the frame 6. The forward underlying end of the link 19 carries a cam roller 20 which extends into the cam slot 8 and is adapted to ride therearound. The opposite arm of the bell crank lever 18 is connected to the oppositely extending links 21 which are parallel to the beam a and at their outer ends are connected to the downwardly extending arms 22 of the three-armed levers 23, guide brackets 2d supporting the links 21 parallel to the beam 1. The three-armed levers 23 are pivotally connected to their respective posts 2 and 3 by the horizontally extended arms 25 and the third arms 26 are connected to the vertically extending links 27 which are guided in spaced relation to the posts 2 and 3 respectively by means of the brackets 28. The upper ends of the links 27 are also connected to outwardly extending arms 29 of the three-armed levers 30 which are pivoted to the posts near their upper ends. Two vertical arms of the three-armed levers 29 are connected to rods 31 which extend thence through guide brackets 32 to the outer ends of horizontally extended beams 33. The outer ends of the rods 31 are pivoted to arms 34E which are journaled at intermediate points upon the beams 33 and at their lower ends carry the slotted cross heads 35 in which the handles 36 are slidably suspended. The above described system of links and crank levers provides a means for oscillating the bell crank lever 18 so that the link or arm 19 may be reciprocated to carry the roller 20 in short strokes through the cam slot 8. As the handles 36 are operated to rock the cross heads 35 and consequently move the system of links connecting the cross heads and the lever 19, the roller 20 is driven through the cam slot 8, dependent forwardly or rearwardly along the frame 6 in accordance with the position of the handles 36 in the cross heads. 1 Thus, if the handles 36 are positioned at the left end of the cross heads in the mechanism as illustrated in the figures, the roller 20 will be shoved forwardly, that is, toward the gate, at each downward pull of the handles 36, so that the roller 20 is shoved step by step,.past the pawls 10, the spring 19 tending to return the lever 19 and consequently the roller 20 to normal position. The pawls 10 however, lock the roller 20 against retrograde movement, and consequently the forward progression of the rollers is preserved, with the result that the frame 6 is thrown rearwardly and the gate opened. When the gate has reached the above position, the roller 20 rests in the extreme end a of the cam slot 8, and has pushed to one side a leaf spring 37 which thereby prevents the tendency of the roller 20 to start backwardly through the first leg of the cam slot 8. In order to close the gate, the handles 36 are thrown to the opposite ends of the'cross heads 35, that is, to the right in the drawings. Actuation of the handles then causes the roller 20 to progress through the opposite leg of the cam slot 8 toward the rear of the frame 6, with the result that the gate is gradually closed. At the rear of the frame 6, the cam slot 8 terminates in a recess 6 which ends the return leg of the cam slotand begins the forward leg by a gradual incline, and a spring 1-1 separates the two legs at their junctures, so that the roller 20 will be prevented from catching in the return leg when the gate is to be opened. The gate can be slowly or rapidly closed in accordance with the strength and rapidity of which the handles 36 are operated.

Connected to the handles 36, and passing thence from the opposite handles over the supporting structure in suitable guide ways so as to be brought together upon the post 2, and being from the latter directed over the gate 1 to the latch mechanism 38 are the cables 39, by means of which the gate latch may be lifted. Preferably, the handles 36 are formed of tubular material, as iron pipe, and the ends of the cables 39 are passed therethrough, and at the bottoms of said handles provided with rings 40 so that when the rings are grasped or downwardly pulled, the gate latch will be lifted before the handles 36 are operated. Or, the arrangement may be such that the downward the next impulse is given, and in this way it is possible to open the gate to a certain extent, and there hold it. The mechanism and the gate are both relieved from undue jar or strain entailed by reason of violent efforts to open or close the gate, and the mechanism, therefore is not subjected to destructive wear, so that the gate when properly built should possess a long life and require few repairs.

What I claim is 1. In a gate opening mechanism, the combination with a gate and a gate support,

of a member carried by said gate and movable relative to said support, said member having a cam way therethrough, a roller operative in said cam way, means for permitting forward progression of said roller through said cam Way and preventing retrograde movement, and means operative from opposite sides of the gate for actuating said roller to open the gate.

2. In a gate opening mechanism, the combination with a gate and a gate support, of a member carried by said gate and movable relative to said support, said frame having a two-legged cam way therethrough, a roller operative through said cam Way, means for permitting forward movement through one leg and rearward movement through the opposite leg, but preventing retrograde movement in either leg, and means for actuating said roller from opposite sides of the gate.

3. In a gate opening mechanism, the com- Oopies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the bination with a gate and a gate support, of a member carried by said gate and movable relative to said support, said frame having a two-legged cam-way therethrough, a roller operative through said cam-way, means for permitting forward movement through one leg and rearward movement through the opposite leg, but preventing retrograde movement in either leg, means for actuating said roller from opposite sides of the gate, and means for reversing the direction of the roller from one leg to the other.

In testimony whereof, I affix my signature, in the presence of two witnesses.

CORNELIUS E. GROENDYKE. WVitnesses:

A. P. IvERsoN, W. E. CLAGG.

Commissioner of Patents,

Washington, D. 0. 

